Chapter 178

Chapter 178

The four of them trekked through the desert for half a mile before they were forced to stop.

Eternal Darkness, as a floor theme, had many dangers to be aware of due to the lack of senses. Before entering a typically hot and dry place, they had Aster create a fist-sized orb of ice and float it next to them as a rudimentary temperature gauge, which was the only reason they realized that the environment was becoming dangerous.

Her ice ball melted in less than ten minutes.

Aster, as a Tier 11 former ice fox, had a Concept revolving around making her ice colder, and thus less susceptible to melting. She also had decades of practice in refining and strengthening said ice.

Still, it melted so quickly that they were forced to stop and dig themselves a hole in the side of a sand dune.

[Earth Manipulation] worked on sand, but was inefficient and barely effective. Fortunately for the group, Matt had gotten [Sand Manipulation] alongside the other Tier 14 manipulation skills. He didnt have that much practice shaping the level 2 mana type, so he defaulted to using [Earth Manipulation].

That in itself was a sign of the heat exhaustion that they were already suffering from. He only fell back on his Tier 8 manipulation skills when he was mentally drained.

Thankfully the sand wasnt impervious to manipulation like most of the other ground surfaces that they had encountered, and he was able to shape a little cave for them by compressing the sand into pseudo-sandstone.

There they all drank a lot of water before they started testing just how hot this ruin was.

Matt and Liz had gotten an orb that produced a bit of shade and lowered ambient temperature when they were Tier 5, and had little use for it most days. It actually took him a few minutes to find it in one of their old spatial backpacks.

The orb didnt do a thing to block the heat in their round of testing outside their little cave. Aster's ice melted just as fast as it had during their walk.

It was a Tier 5 item, but Matt still had hoped that it would work, as it would have saved them a large amount of time, but the item was useless. Even maxing out its mana capacity rate of 10 MPS did nothing to blunt the oppressive heat.

Ultimately, Matt ended up needing to pull out their house, after building a good enough foundation for it to rest on. Once inside, he poured mana into the cottages mana storage, as it burned through an impressive amount while running the AC.

The fact that even their orb wasn't able to block the heat put it firmly outside the abilities of any of their prepared enchanted items. He would need to make something new.

While everyone hydrated and rested, Matt started to sketch out a small portable formation on his workbench. He spent enough time at it that he had a mana node at his feet, so even as he worked he could keep their defenses against the heat running at full capacity. Not that it was likely to run out, but it wasnt like he was using his mana for anything else.

It was a simple and dirty formation, as with his AI being limited by Minkalla, he was forced to make the array of enchantments by hand. A formation was simply that; a number of enchantments linked together like his talismans arrays, but not meant to be one-use items. Instead, they were usually carved into stone, metal, wood, or anything else more durable than parchment.

By the base materials nature, they were more durable and longer lasting, but that came with its own limitations. Part of a talisman's incredible power came from the fact that they weren't expected to be multi-use items, and could therefore disregard longevity for immediate power. When making something more permanent, Matt needed to limit the enchantment's power to a degree that the material could handle.

That was no issue for him, though, except for the methodology. The actual enchanting was identical, and Matt had no problem making a talisman. After all, all enchanting used the same runes, so it wasn't that hard for him to cobble something together as he had with the Mana Leeches in the marsh.

It took a few iterations and five hours, but Matt was able to make a formation that kept Aster's ice sphere unmelted in the open air outside for nearly an hour. If they weren't in Minkalla and on a one-month timeline for exiting the floor, he would have made something more elegant than a few shadow runes and water creation runes stacked and linked inside a small air shield rune. It worked, but he wouldnt be winning any prizes for ingenuity or efficiency.

Still, the formation would get the job done, and that was all that mattered.

After that, he just had to miniaturize it onto something they could wear.

If he had his proper vision, he would have come with something slimmer, like a thin steel band with proper sizing along with a hinge, so they could all wear them on their wrists. But with only his spiritual sense at his disposal, Matt went old school.

Instead of etching the runes into the spirit of the item to firmly anchor the runes into the metal, he opted to physically carve the runes into the face of a small disk of metal that he had forged with his skills from some Tier 14 iron.

He ruined more than a few of the disks while working blind, but they were well stocked, and he compensated by using his metal channel skills along with his proprioception skill to carve something good enough to work.

After making two for each of them and ensuring that they worked, Matt strung the disks and created small necklaces with a holder for the formation disks.

With that problem taken care of, they were able to continue their trek into the desert with less worry. They needed to pay the 10 mana a minute cost, but it was an easy ask with Matt there to use his Concept for a few seconds every once in a while to top them up.

Not wanting to spend more time than they had to in the desert, they all withdrew their flying devices and flew close to the ground, moving much faster than walking on the soft sand would allow.

A few dozen miles into the desert, they encountered their first enemy.

A flock of griffins descended and tore at them with talons and wings that generated blades of wind in front and alongside them in a sweeping arc. The attacks shined brightly in Matts spiritual perception from the sheer amount of power that the [Wind Blade]s had.

The attack was so sudden and well timed that they only sensed it once the griffins were less than five hundred feet away from them.

For Tier 14s, that was a distance they could cover in less than a blink.

Still, the four of them were fast and well-trained by their respective coaches.

Matt flew forward and cast [Bulwark], ramping up the mana he sent to [Cracked Phantom Armor] as he swung his blade with a [Mana Charge] building up inside it.

Unfortunately, he was too slow, and the lead griffin dodged his attack while using its [Wind Blade] to cut through his half formed [Cracked Phantom Armor].

Blood flew as he was cut in his side, but it never reached the ground. Liz grabbed it immediately and merged it with the blood from her glove that flowed out in a wave.

Susanne, who had been the furthest from the attack, slashed out with her sword and lopped off one of the griffin's rear legs, but it was fast enough that she was unable to follow up with a lethal blow.

Matt was forced to focus on the other half dozen griffins that were right on the heels of the first, but with just the extra second, he was able to fully form [Bulwark] and charge it with mana. He was able to block the next series of [Wind Blade]s with the skill, and none of the griffins were willing to ram the shield of mana.

As they were flying away, Aster launched a [Ice Lance], and the arm-length frozen pillar caught one of the trailing griffins right in the chest, sending it tumbling over a sand dune.

That didnt deter the rest of the griffins at all; like all monsters, rage was a part of their natural makeup. The remaining five griffins disappeared out of his spiritual range, and the four delvers spread out and waited for them to appear once again.

It took an agonizing few minutes for the griffins to circle around, but they eventually came in at an angle to hit both Susanne and Aster. Not willing to let the monsters do as they pleased, they shifted so Matt could take the front, with the others covering his side and rear.

When the lead griffin tried to break through [Bulwark], it seemed surprised that it was unable to break through his shield. The moment of hesitation caused by the interruption of its attack left the monster completely open to a thousand-mana-strong [Mana Charge] from an angle it hadnt been expecting.

Matt had already teleported back to safety by the time its head vanished under the blast of mana as if it never existed, and the rush of Genesis Energy confirmed its demise.

The rest of the flock stood in their charge and ran into the other three, who unleashed their own attacks just as the griffins shot off more [Wind Blade]s at the wall of mana that was [Bulwark].

There was no third pass, and the four of them paused to collect any loot from the bodies, which came out to two Tier 8 skills, [Fireball] and [Earth Wall]. The latter was actually fairly valuable due to its rarity.

They suspected that the first monsters Aster killed dropped an essence stone, as there was a small trail in the sand from where the body landed, but the fight had lasted almost a minute, long enough for Minkalla to reclaim any essence.

Matt checked his injuries, but they werent that bad, and after casting [Bandage], he ran [Lesser Regeneration] and [Endurance] as his most cooldown-efficient methods of healing. He could have used [Ranged Heal], but that spell had a larger healing cooldown to counter its range and instant healing abilities.

Still, the wound wasnt anything significant, so he was able to travel along with the others.

As they pushed deeper into the desert, they encountered larger groups of griffins ranging from the small half dozen, to one particularly large flock of thirty.

They learned the hard way that the flying lion-birds were incredibly annoying to fight. They didnt just have [Wind Blade]s that trailed along their wings and exited their wingspan No, their claws were their own incredibly dangerous weapon that rivaled any enchanted item.

Each claw was nearly invisible to their spiritual sense, and naturally imbued with armor penetration enchantments, making them beyond dangerous in close range. They harvested a few of the griffins rear paws for study once they were past this floor.

Liz took a particularly bad swipe from the claws, which really drove the lesson home. Thankfully, her armor had a repair enchantment that quickly had it back in top shape after they fed it a bar of Tier 14 steel.

They were nearly upon the spot where they felt the exit to the ruin when they discovered that something was wrong.

First of all, the ruin exit was underground, and there were at least two hundred griffins flying in a circle around something.

When they were in range to see the griffins with their spiritual sense, the monsters could easily see them, but the entire flock ignored them to continue their circular path.

Liz asked, Any idea what theyre doing?

Aster offered, Maybe theyre like vultures, and theres something dead or dying under them?

Matt wasnt sure if that checked out, as griffins typically weren't scavengers, but you never knew with ruins and rifts.

They kept close to the ground as they flew up the sand dune before they peered over the edge.

Except, they found nothing.

The hundreds of griffins were circling nothing.

Or at least, seemingly nothing.

They watched for another five minutes before something crawled out of the ground and stretched for the sky.

As it shook off the sand, Matt cursed.

It was an oversized sphinx. At least a hundred feet long from haunches to nose, it stretched up and screeched into the circle of griffins flying above. Or at least, that was what he interpreted it opening its mouth as.

Seeing that, Matt hoped they would fight, but he had no such luck.

As the sphinx presumably screeched, sand began to rise. At first, it was only a few particles, but over the course of a few seconds, there was a veritable sand storm.

Liz called out as she took to the air, Aster and I got the griffins, you guys kill the sphinx!

Matt and Susanne launched themselves forward at their fastest speeds, and closed the distance with the massive sphinx.

A pillar of sand rose up and tried to slam into Susanne, but Matt used his own [Sand Manipulation] to halt the attack.

The cat jerked back as if slapped, but while that pillar of sand fell, another dozen pillars formed and flew at them.

Matt used his prodigious mana generation to throw power at the problem, and slowed the waves of sand just enough to allow them to approach the boss. Susanne used her second version of her Concept blade to launch a ranged [Wind Cutter] that vibrated with the telltale sign of her casting it with [Hypersonic Edge]. The attack was able to block the sphinx wing that came crashing down on her while she used her main blade to cut at the descending paw.

Matt was half a second behind her, and as she pulled back, he brought his blade around in a heavy blow with both [Mana Slash] and [Mana Charge] charged to the max, letting them loose on contact with the beast's shoulder.

[Mana Slash] worked best with range, but it had a penetrative power that [Mana Charge] lacked, and he used the combo to blow a chunk of flesh off the beast, earning a silent roar.

The sphinx hopped back and tried its sand attack trick, but Matt commanded the sand to stop, which slowed the attacks to the point of being useless.

Seemingly giving up on that tactic, the competing control over the sand vanished, and the giant cat flexed its wings to fly into the air.

As Liz and Aster were permanently reducing the Griffin population above them, Matt refused to let the monster take to the skies.

Using his new gauntlets, he maxed out the mana throughput and pulled the sphinx out of the air. He had to use [Sand Manipulation] to keep himself from getting crushed under a wave of loose sand, but he brought the beasts attention back to him and Susanne without letting it interfere with Liz and Aster's battle.

Even as the sphinx was being dragged to him and his gravity well, Susanne, who had driven her primary blade into the ground to anchor herself, used her second sword copy to launch consecutive [Wind Cutter] and [Mana Slash]es at the sphinx.

The giant cat seemed to have enough, and all the sand in the room rushed in towards it through some sort of spell. Matt found that his [Sand Manipulation] was completely ineffective against the casting.

Not wanting to be near the boss if this was some attack, Matt stopped controlling gravity and retreated with Susanne.

As the sand finished rushing at the boss, they found that it was now clad in sand armor.

It seemed to have decided that its flight wasnt worth the lack of defenses, and it happily pounced at them, bringing massive, stone-covered paws down at them. He and Susanne fled outward in opposite directions as the giant paw slammed the ground between them, shaking the entire arena.

There was a blast of wind from above them, and as Matt rolled from another strike, he sent his spiritual perception up above to where Liz and Aster were.

A massive eagle had joined the fight in the skies, which made Matt wonder about the origins of this ruin and where the griffins had come from.

Seeing that Liz and Aster were successfully kiting the giant eagle, and that they didnt seem to be in any obvious danger, Matt refocused on his own problems.

He used [Earth Manipulation] to create a pillar of stone to block the next paw swipe, then rose a number of additional pillars throughout the otherwise empty room, creating some cover for him and Susanne.

The sphinx seemed to disagree, as it spun in a circle shattering most of the pillars, then turned to where Susanne was standing. She had just landed a [Wind Cutter] on its flank and cracked its armor, finally drawing blood.

Matt was sending out a [Mana Slash] as a follow-up when he caught its rear paw to the chest in a surprise kick, and was sent flying.

He was able to catch himself with his Concept, but despite not being able to feel it he knew the injury was server where the lion paw claws had torn through his armor as if it wasnt there. That only reaffirmed his theory that the griffins were some mutant mix between the giant eagle and sphinx.

Teleporting forward, Matt joined Susanne in the melee and exchanged a few blows with the boss.

Their swords were able to pierce its armor, turning the fight into one of attrition.

It was a perfectly fine place for Matt to be. One on one fights that lasted a long time were where he shined. And if they had been alone, that would have been ok, but they weren't. After all, Liz and Aster were dealing with the ruins' second boss themselves.

Those two had entered Lizs golem form and cast [Blood Crystal Armor], creating a giant, golden golem that was currently grappling with the eagle. From inside the behemoth, Matt could feel Asters presence as she was sending and directing attack after attack at the griffins that were trying to land and tear at their armor.

Seeing that they needed some help, Matt cast [Hail] for a second so Aster had some more ice to work with.

Susanne dodged a bite, and Matt used that as his chance to unleash a [Mana Slash] at the cat's open mouth.

This time, a flap of tongue fell out of the sphinxes mouth, and Matt tried to follow up as the cat retreated, spitting blood.

Having retreated, the sphinx eyed Matt and Susanne as they spread apart and started approaching from both sides. While they were close, he used his Concept to help fill up his teammates dwindling mana pool.

They hadnt worked together long, but they were both competent melee fighters, and their styles merged well.

At the same time, they both raced forward and let loose attacks.

Susanne used [Hypersonic Edge] and [Wind Cutter], while Matt used [Jolt] and [Earth Spear] to take the boss in the flank.

The attacks pissed the sphinx off enough that it abandoned any subtlety and tried to pounce at Matt, so he dropped his sword and he reached out to grab the monsters arm-length canine teeth.

Matt was only Tier 11, but after dropping [Cracked Phantom Armor]s protection to the minimum, he had 2000 MPS to spread between all of his physical cultivation skills. [Acrobats Finesse], [Rangers Sight], [Sharp Mind], [Willow in the Wind], and [Lesser Regeneration] were only used a little, to keep his general physical capabilities in line with [Barbarians Hide] and [Mages Retreat], which had respectively 300 MPS and 1500 MPS.

With that much of a boost, Matt caught the sphinx biting attack and held it from edging any closer.

The sphinx wasn't stupid, and it tried to pull back from his grasp, digging its nails into the ground to do so. In return, Matt used his gauntlet's gravity powers to stick the monster's canines to his hands, while locking himself down with his Concept to prevent it from retreating.

It wouldn't last long, but with the sphinx unable to move, Matt grinned as Susanne closed the distance. Using both her swords and [Hypersonic Edge], she cut at the sphinxs neck from top and bottom.

Like a pair of scissors, her blades cut deep into the monster's neck, but it wasn't enough to decapitate it.

Matt solved that issue by changing his anchoring grasp to a pulling force, while also pushing his repelling force onto the monster's body.

One tug and twist later, the boss's head separated from the body, and the rush of Genesis Energy was like a wave that crashed over him and Susanne.

Instead of celebrating, Matt flew up and joined Liz in her battle against the eagle.

Except, he found that the eagle was already battered and bloodied, barely on its own last legs. Instead, he cast [Flamethrower] and [Fire Manipulation] to fry or scare off all the remaining griffins.

In less than a minute, Liz had their battle with the eagle wrapped up, smothering it with her blood to finish it off.

After the rush of Genesis Energy, she stood up with an excited Aster as the remaining griffins fled.

Liz sauntered over and asked, Who expected two bosses? I didnt. The asshole landed on me out of nowhere.

Matt could see that she was still proud of herself and shot back, I decapitated a sphinx with just physical power. That's far more impressive when you really look at it.

Aster hopped out of her backpack and said to Susanne, And they forget about our contributions as soon as it comes to bragging. How droll.

She pranced over to the eagle and sphinx, casting [Heart of Power] to eat both of the bosses hearts for the chance at extra permanent power.

As the skill had been upgraded from the start for her, it could permanently add to her cultivation, and had done so a few times over the years. She usually did so because she enjoyed eating hearts, more so than the very rare chance at getting the increase.

Except this time, the sphinxs heart increased her mana pool cultivation.

[Heart of Power] didnt force her to advance, but it allowed her to push further in her current cultivation.

After getting the upgrade, Aster pranced around happily. That was a bit of Genesis Energy added to my core, not essence. I'm the best! We need an ice cream break! Ice cream for everyone!

Matt stared in disbelief at his bond's luck and cursed.

Grumbling, the three humans ignored the excited fox as they moved over to the ruin reward. There they dispelled it, and out from its depths came a number of items.

They pulled out their portable house and set it up to take a break before they moved to the next sub-floor and to inspect the items.

The first and most obvious reward was a greatsword in the same form as Susannes.

This one was razor thin, and enchanted with only sharpness enchantments. With a careful test, they discerned that it was able to easily cut through the sphinxs stone armor.

Susanne sighed. I dont really use real blades anymore, but that would be good to pull out in an emergency. Shame that itll break if I look at it sideways.

The next item of note was a choker with a stylized snowflake hanging off it.

Aster took it and found that it boosted her ice powers, and created a better version of Matts shade formation disks.

She loved it because it looked good, but it was a very potent find for the winter fox.

There were also a number of alchemy ingredients that were rare Tier 14 herbs, and Liz happily transplanted them into her garden.

Matt didnt get anything so pointed in the reward, but was quite happy with the two dozen essence stones and a handful of common Tier 14 skills.

After their three days in the heat of the ruin, everyone relaxed and slept for a full six hours before they stepped into the distortion that would take them to the next sub-floor of Minkalla.